Social-ecological network of peri-urban forest in urban expansion: A case study of urban agglomeration in Guanzhong Plain, China

Socio-ecological networks maintain reciprocal interactions between nature and society. As a result of these interactions key abundant ecological resources and ecosystem services for society emerge. Urban expansion is a direct driver of peri-urban forest change and cause shifts in socio-ecological relationships. However, to date there has not been an attempt to analyze resource management alongside peri-urban forests based on social-ecological network, and in the network the connection between the social and peri-urban forests. In this paper, we developed and applied social-ecological network analysis to assess peri-urban forests management in the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration area. Exponential random graph models and multilevel networks were used to assess the structural characteristics and evolution of the peri-urban forest social-ecological network in 2010 and 2020. The results were as follows: (1) the spatial distribution of the 2010 and 2020 Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration ecology-human-resource security index was imbalanced and the surrounding area is safer than the central area. (2) in 2010, the number of two kind effective management modes was enhanced significantly and the number of two kind overexploited management modes was suppressed significantly, compared to 1000 random networks. (3) in 2020, the number of two kind effective management modes was enhanced significantly and the number of one kind overexploited management mode was suppressed significantly, compared to 1000 random networks. These results suggest a highly interconnected management structural feature with suppressed overexploited management mode through conceptualizing complex modes of social-ecological network. The management and utilization of resources need to take into account the ecological relationship between peri-urban forests and the common agreement between managers in network.